No. 66: Baylor Bears

Baylor Bears Spring Status

Everyone knew it was going to take a little while for Matt Rhule to build Baylor back up again into a Big 12 player, but losing to Liberty to start the season and going 1-11 wasn’t a part of the plan.

And now, going back to 2016, the Bears are 2-17 after starting out 6-0.

Still paying for the problems from the Art Briles era, the talent level and depth still aren’t there, but the starting 22 should be okay. Just about everyone is back on offense, and most of the defensive front seven returns.

Rhule is a good coach, and knows how to create attacking defenses and efficient offenses. Now it’s time for all of that to start happening.

Baylor Biggest Depth Chart Battle

Safety. Leading tackler Taylor Young is the biggest loss from the defense, but not having the safety tandem of Davion Hall and Taion Sells is a bigger issue. The secondary wasn’t exactly a rock last year, but getting back fourth-leading tackler Verkedric Vaughns is a good start to battle for the safety spots.

Baylor Biggest Issue

Turnovers, on both sides of the ball. The offense lost the ball 25 times, and the defense didn’t do enough to take the ball away. The team wasn’t good enough to lose the turnover margin as much as it did, and it needs to be on the right side to start pulling off some wins.

Baylor was -2 or worse in six games last season with just three interceptions in a pass-happy Big 12.

Baylor Biggest Positive

The passing game has talent. The top eight pass catchers of last year return, starting with deep threat and leading receiver Denzel Mims. Quarterback depth might be a massive issue, but Charlie Brewer is a good-looking young passer to build around – if it’s not Gerry Bohanon, or NC State graduate transfer Jalan McClendon. For all the problems, Baylor was 24th in the nation in passing. That should continue.

Really, Why Are The Baylor Bears Ranked Here?

As awful as things were last season, Baylor lost four games by eight points or fewer, and there were times when it was competitive, but didn’t have the horses. There’s still a long, long way to go, but with the offensive skill talents in place, it’s going to be a far more dangerous team.